1. Field
The present invention is related to generating a relational view for a base model schema.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Essential Meta-Object Facility (EMOF) specification describes a framework for describing and representing metadata (i.e., data describing other data). The EMOF specification provides EMOF model constructs that enable creation of metadata models. A metadata model includes objects described by EMOF classes (defined by the EMOF model), links that connect objects described by EMOF associations, and data values. An EMOF class may include a class name, attributes, operations, association references, and other elements. An association reference enables an EMOF object to be “aware” of being in a relationship with other objects via an association, and the relationship links may be navigated or traversed to get to other data in the model (e.g., to perform operations on objects in a metadata model). An EMOF class may inherit characteristics (e.g., attributes, operations, etc.) from other EMOF classes.
Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a notational language for specifying and visualizing software, (e.g., object-oriented projects) and was developed by the Object Management Group (OMG). An EMOF metadata model may be represented using a UML model. For more information regarding EMOF and UML, see the World Wide Web, omg.org.
When defining an EMOF-based model in a relational database, the resulting relational schema (e.g., a logical classification of database objects in a database) for representing the EMOF-based model may be substantially complex. Consequently, dealing with instance data for classes of the model may also be very complicated.
Additionally, because the EMOF-based model may be a network of many interrelated classes, resulting database tables that hold instance data for the EMOF-based model are likewise all interrelated. In order to write Structured Query Language (SQL) queries against the resulting tables, a user must be familiar with the EMOF-based model as well as the mapping between the EMOF-based model and the relational tables.
Thus, there is a need in the art for more simply defining views for scoping and accessing data in database tables that hold instance data for an EMOF-based model.